Page is 9 months old!

Page is 9 months old today. She's such a great dog, and so full of personality and life! She has a great sense of humor. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning off stuff that had been stacked on a chair for months. I thought it would be a great place to sit and read in the office/family room. I took the last of the stuff downstairs to the garage, and as I came up the stairs, look who had already laid claim to the chair and was peaking at me around the corner of the room!

Page still has poor Ian terrified, but I'm slowly letting the two of them hang out in the same areas. It lasts for a little while until Page starts chasing Ian and "tasting" his black fur. She's such a devil. He freaks out (which is what she wanted) and runs upstairs. She just trots back into the living room with her head held high and a very proud look on her face.

And of course all the bones in the house are hers. It doesn't matter if she's standing in a pile of bones, if one dog is chewing on a bone, she must have the one that dog is chewing on. She's so annoying that the dogs all give into her. Here's a couple of video clips of her annoying behavior. You can see in the first one Devon comes up to ask me to make her stop. In the second clip you can see video evidence of multiple toys in the room for her to play with! I'm not sure why Devon thinks I can make her stop, because it's never worked in the past.

WARNING: you might want to turn down the volume before hitting play!

So happy three-quarters birthday, Page! I love you even if you annoy the daylights out of your canine siblings! They were once puppies, too, and you'll get it back someday when another generation comes into the house!

Congrats to MACH Grace and Debbie!

I want to send out a huge congratulations to Debbie and Forrest Held and MACH Grace (a.k.a. MACH Van-M Goodness Gracious CDX, RA, MX, MXJ, NF, HIC, CGC, DPP). Grace is Debbie's second agility dog, with her older dog Rose earning a PAX. Debbie has worked very hard with Grace, who is her first MACH dog at the ripe old age of 3! I'm really proud of this outstanding team. I think Debbie's huge smile in this photo tells the whole story! Way to go girls! We're super proud of you!

Bearded Collie Club Agility Trial

On Saturday, we drove to Lewisburg, Ohio, and Circle G Arena for the Bearded Collie Club's Agility Trial. I only entered Saturday, because Page was entered in a TDX test in Chicago. Of course, with her pass last weekend, we allowed someone else to take her spot, and we didn't have the pressure to get home to rest.

Because of the running order and not entering FAST, I got to sleep in and didn't rush to get to the trial. It's been almost a year since I've trialed in Ohio, and it was wonderful to see all my old friends.

Devon's teeter fears have returned in the last 3-4 weeks (more on that in a future post), so I pulled her from Standard and just ran JWW. We have not trialed in 5 months with hunt tests and tracking tests. Devon has become a very confident agility dog in that time, running Excellent/Master level courses with ease. I was excited to trial this weekend to see if her confidence in class transfered to the ring.

Our Open JWW course by Lisa Rieves was a course I liked. When compared to Excellent JWW, it had the same opening (1-6), the same entrance into the weaves (8-11) and the same close (11-18). The Excellent dogs ran the course well, and several big dog handlers came out smiling and said it ran well.

I saw two options for handling the opening. Option A had dog on right from the start with a landing side front cross after 3. Option B had the dog starting on right and doing a take-off side rear cross on 5. Either option had me doing a landing side front cross after 6.

For the close, I again saw two options. Option A was a landing side front cross on 14 with a pull to the finish. Option B had a rear cross on the flat after 15.

Based on the Excellent dogs, the start was demotivating for most dogs, with an opening pinwheel and the dog headed right into the ring gate off 1 and 2. A landing side front cross on 3 worked well for a solid, seasoned dog who trusted their handlers and for fast drivey dogs. However, that bar on jump 2 came down a lot or dogs pulled off jump 2 as handlers moved in the opposite direction to get into position on jump 3.

The Excellent dogs handled the close very well, so either a front cross on 14 or a rear after 15 worked. Hummmm, what to do? Based on her history, Devon has preferred me to get out of her way and rear cross at trials. It's not my comfort level, but I need to support my dog. So after walking it several times, I decided to rear cross on the take-off side of 5, front cross on the landing side of 6 and rear cross on the flat between 15-16.

Now that my handling was decided, I reviewed my only goal for the run: to stay positive and see a very fast drivey run like I've seen in class. This is why I'm trialing Devon in JWW even when I'm not running in Standard. I want her to learn trials are fun and she needs to run fast. I don't want her to feel pressure and slow down to a crawl.

Analysis of our run: Devon was in fine form going to the line. Although she stopped tugging the minute we walked in the building, she was really pumped. She loved the high value treats (steak and ham) and was foaming at the mouth for more. Jostling outside the ring when I set our stuff near where they posted the results only to find my way blocked three times didn't faze her. And we went in a dog early when the dog in front of us who had checked in wasn't at the gate. Again, Devon wasn't bothered.

Devon sat quickly at the line with none of her past startline stress. She was ready to go. She was slower off the start line than I expected, which was probably caused by the demotivating start I had already identified. I was glad I decided to continue to support her through jumps 1-3 and not pull off for the landing side front cross.

However, I think I showed a little too much motion and acceleration through 3, 4 and 5 because there was no stopping Devon! She was flying and didn't pay any attention to my lateral motion to cue the take off side rear cross and took 14 as an off course. Oh well, the qualifying score was gone with that off course, but I still needed to reach my goal of staying positive and having a fast drivey run.

Devon came back to me with a good attitude at jump 7 and did a lovely job into the weave poles. The off side entry wasn't easy. On the video you hear Kim complimenting Devon's weaves, and they did look fantastic. All the work we did this spring and the confidence she's gain in classes over the summer has really paid off.

In the close I probably should have done the landing side front cross after 14. First, I was standing still to get the rear cross, which always means you would have had time for the front cross. More importantly, with me behind her, Devon was able to focus outside the ring and get distracted, causing her to miss jump 17. Kim's comment of "devil" was pretty accurate!

Overall, I think I met my goal of staying positive and getting a drivey run from Devon. She was happy out there, and her tail was wagging clear to the end. While I saw a lack of focus a couple of times (not surprising because she is so environmentally aware), I didn't see stress of slowing. Even better, she was more than 9 seconds under SCT even with the off course. That's a great improvement in her speed!

I wonder if our past experience with rear crosses working so well in trials had more to do with me staying out of Devon's way (i.e. not micromanaging her) and trusting her to do her job than the rear cross itself. I think I should trust her in trials and push for more seasoned dog handling, which includes landing side front crosses. We perform them well in class when I push and trust her, so it's time for me to relax and work them in the ring. We'll have lots more practice, because we have three weekends of agility coming up!

An evening of VST tracking

Friday evening I laid a VST track for both girls. Page had been especially bored this week, so I knew she could work. And if I want to finish out the girls' tracking titles, I must get out and train!

Page's track

Page's track was 284 yards long with 164 yard of non-veg (57%). It was aged 3 hours and 10 minutes, and it had no chalk or extra scent. I thought she did a great job transitioning onto the parking lot. I thought about her hard surface turn and put it into the curb. I think that actually confused her more than if it had been on the sidewalk! Page had a difficult time finding the scent in the curb, searching the grass, sidewalk and parking lot. I finally pointed to the curb and she locked in and moved forward.

I gave her a bit of veg before taking her past the front of the building under the pull through drop off. She got a bit of confidence back on that grass and in the grass on the opposite side of the doorway. Page did a great job tracking across her last bit of parking lot and into the grass to the end of the track.

I did forget to load some treats into the articles, and Page missed the metal article in the curb. That's a good lesson for me that we'll have to work article indications all over again for VST. She did a great job on the plastic article that was in the open in the parking lot, and right after indicating it, she gave me a good, "not mine" indication on a bit of trash. Page did find the leather article at the end of the track well.

Generally, this was a very nice track. It was fully aged with no assistance, so we're off to a good start for VST.

Devon's track

Devon's track was across the driveway by the next building in this office park. Her track was aged about 3 hours and 25 minutes. It was 282 yards with 192 yards of non-veg (62%). It did not have extra scent, but I did put chalk on her MOT turn.

Devon did a lot of searching at the start. We were in a grove of ornamental trees, and the leaves were falling. I had to rescent her, and she finally got to work. After checking all the other possibilities, Devon took the turn onto the parking lot, and then confidently tracked across it.

She again checked all the possibilities on the next turn before committing onto the sidewalk and to the front of the building. She was again very confident once she committed. Of course I lost my metal article. I figured I would when I left it in front of the building. Darn it!

Devon continued on the sidewalk very confidently and then transitioned up on the grass in front of the building. I wanted to give her some veg tracking before asking her to go into the parking lot and do an MOT.

She overshot the veg turn, but worked her way back and practically dragged me across the drive. She found her plastic article easily, even though I forgot it was tucked around the corner of the island. I LOVE Devon's article indications. She thinks this game is so much fun and to find articles are like finding food to another dog!

Devon did some circling on her parking lot leg, but not the frantic circling I've seen in the past. She did continue to make progress down the leg. She overshot the MOT turn, and she wanted to keep moving past it. I held her and asked her to work. I couldn't see the chalk, but I made the turn on a white line so I knew where it was.

She worked in the correct direction twice but didn't commit, and she worked other directions, too. After a water break and another rescent, Devon dropped her head on the white line of the new leg and took off down it. Once on the center island, she worked easily down the veg. Devon overshot her leather article to inspect a drain, but she worked back to find it.

In thinking about MOT turns, I plan to put some extra scent down for Devon with hand prints the next time I lay them. I think that would give Devon more confidence as we re-visit this skill.

Overall, this was a very nice track. Because I saw stress in her tracking this summer as we were working field, I wonder if I was reading too much into her searches on her corners. After thinking about this track, I believe she did her usual amount of loss of scent/ruling out other direction searching. I need to be careful that I don't compare Devon and Page's tracking styles and expect Devon to look like Page. I've been tracking Page so much, I think I was projecting Page's style onto my expectations of Devon.

I don't believe Devon is less of a tracking dog, but she does track differently than Page. Page is a meticulous footstep tracker. She has her nose down on the non-veg surface most of the time. Devon doesn't have her nose down as far as Page, and she searches a wider area. These are differences in style I need to learn to read. Hopefully, tracking them more often and together will help me do that.

Videos of the big day

One of the White River Golden Retriever Club members created this fantastic video of our fun day at Prophetstown for the TDX test. Hope you enjoy the clips! You can tell we had a great day!

wrgrc tracking test nov 2009 @ Yahoo! Video

Page, Tracking Dog Excellent!

Yep, you read that correctly. At the ripe old age of 8 months and 3 weeks after passing her TD, Page earned her TDX on her first attempt. The TDX test has a passing rate between 15-19%. While it's my favorite tracking to train, the test is grueling. The test track is 800-1,000 yards long, aged 3-5 hours, between 5-7 turns with obstacles (woods, roads, creeks, fences, etc.) and intentional human cross tracks put in two places 1.5 hours after the initial track is laid.

I think TDX work is my favorite to train, much like Open and Utility are more fun for dog and handler than Novice obedience. Once you've trained a dog in tracking, TD work is "boring" much like Novice obedience is all heeling. TDX work acknowledges the dog knows how to track, but then applies it to all sorts of circumstances. The dog learns to problem solve more, and the handler learns how her dog thinks and solves those problems. I also enjoy being outside in beautiful parks seeing nature and animals, especially in the fall as the leaves are turning and the weather is cool.

Now onto Page's track. If you've been following the blog, you know I taught Page all aspects of tracking from the beginning. She got her first TDX track on May 30, and we have it on video that she handled it very well. After Page certified for her TD at 19 weeks, I concentrated on VST and TDX work, with occasional TD tracks. In September I stopped working VST and stuck with TD and TDX tracks since I knew she had tests coming up. So while many people are shocked an 8-month-old Golden Retriever passed her TDX, Page had been working TDX for months and I knew she could handle the work.

We also made sure she could handle long, test-level tracks because Steve laid us two blind TDX tracks that Page passed. Those tracks were important, especially the last one which was 990 yards long. It told me a lot about how Page would handle the length and stress of an actual test. One important thing I learned is that she is less precise and overshoots turns when she's tired. That knowledge would come in handy!

We entered the White River Golden Retriever Club's annual TDX test. This is my local club, and the site was only 1 hour north of me, so I had tracked there four times. In those four tracks, Page has done her weakest tracking. Only once did I think she tracked well, twice I had to walk her through sections of the track and once we had to end the track at the first article.

This week of training was about two things: confidence building tracks for Page and my mental game. I think confident tracks for Page was more for me than her. I ran a track in a location I knew she tracked well on Tuesday. It was aged 3 hours and 10 minutes but it was only 470 yards. On Thursday my friend laid a TD track, but aged it 3 hours and gave me extra articles to work indications. Page aced these tracks, so I had confidence in her tracking abilities and knew I could read her.

Now for my mental game! I did a LOT of positive visualization this week. I stayed up beat all week and replayed the good tracks Page had run to this point, putting the bad ones out of my mind. I recalled that Page tracks other people very well, and that I'm probably boring for her to track. I even visualized the telephone calls I'd make to Gayle and Lise and the email I'd send to Donna upon our successful track. On the drive to the test, I thanked God for the beautiful weather and my very smart puppy. I laughed and joked with my friends before the test and made sure I had a smile on my face 100% of the time. I found little things to make me laugh. It's hard to be stressed when you are smiling.

Our draw items were adorable little flip flop boxes that had been painted by Janet Ripley with tracking flags, paw prints and a glove. I chose the Raspberry flip flop (for Ms. Raspberry of course) and we drew track 3. This was the same as her TD track, and our tracklayer was Kris Kothe, the same person Devon tracked 2 years ago. I know Kris is a very capable tracklayer, so I was pleased. I hate running the last tracks, so I was thrilled with a fairly early draw.

I didn't really watch the first two dogs, because I lose my focus if I do. The first dog didn't really commit off the start flag and didn't get past the first turn. The second dog made it past the first turn but got sucked into the cross tracks on the second leg. Then it was our turn.

We had to wait 10 minutes before we could run our track since the first two dogs failed so quickly. Seriously, how much small talk can you make with the two judges before you start? Page was ready to go and was barking and wagging her tail whenever anyone looked her way. Finally they told me I could "suit up" and get my dog out and we headed to our flag.

It was a lovely start in a small mowed path with prairie grass on one side and heavy cover on the other. Page saw the flag and made a beeline for it. She paused at the start article and as I got next to her and started to lean down and pick it up, she was off on her track.

So much for giving her some kind of a command! Apparently she was ready and only needed me to drive her to the test and walk her to the startline. It reminded me of a what Donna says about Page's mother, Bizzy. She'll lock on a mark and say, "I got it, Mom! Send me!" Apparently Page didn't wait to be started, she had it!

The first leg was 110 yards. Page showed me loss of scent, and we had heavy cover now on both sides. I turned to my right and saw a really clear path up the hill. But Page checked left, then forward, then left. I figured we'd be there a while.

Page is a footstep tracker, which means she is very meticulous. She worked for a few seconds, then came right to where the track turned and sniffed the ground and you could see her say, "OH! It went THIS way!" And up the hill we went at full speed! Over the hill and we were in a set of woods and now going down hill at full speed.

I've said there's a reason I wanted to do Page's vegetative tracking while she was still less than 50 pounds and I can stay on my feet while she's tracking. Sure enough I got one foot hung up in a limb and about went down face first about the time I saw something black in the leaves in front of us. I kept my feet and felt sure I was looking at Page's first article.

Article indications have been tough for Page. She loves the game of tracking, but feels no reason to stop and show me articles that are right there on the track where I can trip over them. In the last two months I've really insisted on an indication and won't let her track on without one. While I prefer a retrieve of the article, we have finally compromised on Page stopping and standing over the article until I get it (and usually give her a treat). Of course, I was fully prepared for Page to give me no indication and for me to have to fake one for the judges. Bless her heart when she stopped dead (even with all that momentum coming downhill) and gave me an indication for a black hat!

We had 125 yards of that woods, then we broke out of it for a road crossing. Now most people might fear a road as an obstacle, but I was thrilled. Page has been working VST since she was only a few weeks old, so she's very comfortable on non-veg.

In fact during the awards ceremony, judge Ule James said it was very clear Page had worked VST since she actually tracked across the road. Our track angled across the road, and most dogs will square up and jump the road and find the track on the other side. Page actually put her nose on the blacktop and tracked at an angle across the road. It was so cool for the judge to tell everyone how smart she was!

The photos here are two perspectives of our road crossing. One if from the gallery's perspective taken by Susie and Ginger Rezy. The other is a judge's perspective taken by Ule James.

After the road we had 35 yards of veg then a 5 yard walking/biking path then back into vegetation with trees (this second leg was a total of 240 yards).

Toward the end of this leg, Page flicked her head to the left and showed loss of scent. She worked forward and to the right, but also indicated left. As she worked the loss of scent/turn, I could tell she knew the track went left, but as a footstep tracker she couldn't find the new leg and was only catching the scent in the wind.

As she worked, I wanted to back up, because I realized we were past the turn. However with the wind at our back, it was pushing the scent in front of us and to the right so as Page worked the scent cone, she was working away from the actual turn. I couldn't walk backwards because she wasn't going behind me searching for the scent.

It was incredibly frustrating to watch her work and struggle but not be able to help her except by rescenting her. Had I walked backwards I would have been whistled off (failed) for guiding my dog; I had to wait until she worked backwards. I knew she could solve this problem, because she has many times in the past; but the with an 8-12 mph wind working against her, it was a much harder problem to solve.

Finally after more than 10 minutes on this turn she started to solve her problems, working out the scent cone and finally moving backwards. I immediately adjusted to help her and she finally found the track 5 ft. behind me. She had worked 18-20 yards past the turn before she recovered. I don't know what the gallery or judges were thinking, but I had was never so grateful to see her lock into a leg in my life!

Page didn't flinch on her first set of cross tracks, which were on a 120 yard leg in medium cover. She over shot her third turn, but not as badly as the second one (only about 20 ft.) and worked it out quickly. As soon as she committed to the fourth leg, I figured we had the test made.

The judges said she scalloped to the right at the second set of cross tracks. I do remember her going right and readjusting, but I wouldn't have realized it was due to cross tracks. Thirty yards past the cross tracks, she got her next article, a grey wool sock, again with a perfect indication.

The article gave her a second wind. She was off like a shot and I had to leap over a hole and jog to catch up. Page railed her last two turns, and once on the final leg, I was scouring the ground in front of her for the glove.

Page winded the article and was searching for it, finding it before I saw it. She stopped over it and turned back to look at me. I told her she was brilliant over and over until I reached the glove. I put my hand in the air to tell the judges she found it, and then I wrapped my arms around her neck and hugged her, kissed her and cried! We sat on the ground playing tug until the judges and tracklayer got to us. The gallery was pulling their cars up and honking. Once they parked, they came running into the field for more hugs and tears!

Page's track was 850 yards long. It was aged exactly 3 hours. It had 5 turns. Our obstacles were an open woods, road and path. She ran the track in 26 minutes. It was sunny and 65 degrees with a slight (8-12 mph) wind. Page was the only dog out of six total to pass our test. Our judges were Ule James and Steve Ripley.

If you ever get to track for Ule, he carries a camera (you've seen his photos here), and he makes the most incredible maps -- they are to scale! He also writes little notes on them like "got it" for the articles and "good recover" (that was for that second turn) and "good job!" for the cross tracks.

What a wonderful way to earn Page's TDX! We were at our home club with all our tracking buddies. Good friend and mentor Steve Ripley was one of our judges. Good friend, ace tracklayer and artist Janet Ripley made adorable draw items for me to treasure. So many friends who have supported us and laid tracks for us were on hand to race out into the field and give us hugs of congratulations. Susie and Ginger took great photos and made a fun slideshow with perfect captions.

White River held up their expectations for a great post-test pitch in lunch, and I was ravenous! Page enjoyed the cake and Bernie shared the rest of his meatballs and chicken chili with Page. Someone asked me if I was going to stop and give her a hamburger - not after she enjoyed the pitch in and cake!

And did I mention I think I have the greatest puppy in the world!! Boy I love this dog!

Sunday Night Football

It's been a long time since I've just relaxed and watched Sunday night football. Last night seemed like a good night to do that. Page thought so, too. And you can see as the evening went on, she got more and more comfortable and took more and more space on the day bed! Yes, my feet (covered in a black and orange blanket) really are hanging off the day bed in that last photo and holding up Page's head. Poor Devon was curled up on the floor on a doggie bed thinking Page was VERY spoiled!